Currently the PowerShell Toolkit and the Python SDK do not support the system property APIs except in raw API form. See SysPropertyManger.ps1 for an example. However, the new information in the Datastore DTO is available to the Python SDK and the PowerShell Toolkit.

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Hi, Rick,
sorry if this question is here not at correct place, but hopefully you could help.
How to setup vCenter server on tintri vmdk from scratch?
We have
– Brand new delivered ESXi servers with preinstalled vSphere (aka ESXi)
– Brand new tintri appliance – no configuration
We want
– Create a vmdk and deploy on it vCenter appliance from OVF file
– vCenter should ran on the same infrastructure (ESXi servers / VMstore) it manages

Is it possible to configure tintri appliance using API and use the same API to create vmdk?

Of curse there is another way –
1) deploy dummy vCenter server on existing infrastructure.
2) Connect all ESXi servers to this vCenter.
3) Configure VMstore to connect to this vCenter server as well.
4) Create vmdk and expose it to all ESXi servers
5) deploy new vCenter server to this vmdk
6) reconnect all ESXi hosts to the new vCenter
7) discarded vCenter

But, as mentioned above, what I’m looking for is the different way
1) use rest API or another tool to configure vodka and expose it to one of ESXi hosts
2) use vSphere web client to deploy vCenter from OVF appliance to this vodka
Is it possible?

The most important fact: I DO NO HAVE VCENTER SERVER. I want to deploy it.
What I have is
1) ESXi servers with preinstalled ESXi
2) Tintri appliance – completely virgin, as it has been shipped

What I need – 1) setup the appliance, 2) create VMDK 3) deploy vCenter server on this VMDK
vCenter server then should run on ESXi cluster it manages and should use VMDK from tintri appliance it manages as well.

What I want – avoid the long setup procedure with provisional vCenter – described above 7 steps.

And the question is – whether it is possible to create a VMDK and expose it to ESXi server WITHOUT VENTER, just by using API DIRECTLY.

Tintri storage will be presented as an NFS datastore to ESXi hosts, upon which VMDKs, will be carved out and allocated to VMs.

Regarding the question of deploying the vCenter. This can happen in two ways:
1. You can deploy a vCenter Linux Appliance. If doing this, you would choose what datastore to use when deploying the appliance. This datastore can be the Tintri NFS mount and this is where the multiple VMDKs that will be assigned to the vCenter Appliance will be created.
2. You can deploy vCenter to an existing Windows Server instance. In this case, vCenter would be deployed within the Windows Server instance and use the VMDKs already assigned there (capacity permitting).

In both cases, if you wish to have your first vCenter reside on the Tintri datastore, the Tintri datastore will need to be already mounted to an ESXi host. To do this, complete the initial Tintri VMstore setup without specifying a vCenter to integrate with and then present the Tintri NFS mount to a ESXi host that you will use. You can use the Tintri UI or Tintri APIs to complete initial configuration. Deploy your vCenter in either available format, specifying the Tintri datastore during the deploy process and then add your vCenter management IP to the Tintri VMstore after completion.

Alternatively, you could deploy the vCenter to local storage on your ESXi host (capacity permitting) and then migrate to the Tintri datastore afterwards. This will allow you specify the vCenter configuration during initial setup of the Tintri VMstore, although it is not completely necessary.

The VMDKs you mention are virtual disks that will be assigned to VMs but all of these will reside on a datastore, in this case an NFS mount hosted by the Tintri VMstore. The first step to allow you create your vCenter is to mount the NFS datastore to an ESXi host after initialization of the Tintri VMstore.